Derek Carr: Fans who aren’t still with us weren’t true Raider fans

Any Oakland fans who are no longer supporting the Raiders because they’re moving to Las Vegas aren’t real fans, according to quarterback Derek Carr.

Carr said at the start of the team’s offseason workout program that he expects Oakland fans to remain loyal to the team, and doesn’t think they were ever really fans if they don’t.

“We’re not going to split up like you’ve seen other cities do,” Carr said, via ESPN. “We’re not going to do things like that. For the ones that do, I don’t really believe that they’re true Raider fans. I feel their hurt. I’m with you. I hurt, too. But at the same time, we’re all in this together and we’re just going to do it together.”

Carr believes only a tiny minority of fans will ditch the Raiders.

“Out of like 1,000 people, you’re going to get one or two that have something to say and that’s with everything,” he said. “Hopefully y’all don’t focus on that kind of stuff because there’s the 99 percent that are loyal, faithful fans that are going to ride with us wherever we’re at.”

That’s all easy for Carr to say. It’s harder for Oakland residents who have supported the team with their hard-earned dollars for years to accept that the team will abandon them.

UPDATE 10:33 a.m. ET: Carr clarified his comments on Twitter:

Just in case I was misunderstood...I love ALL Raider fans, wherever they are from.... We are in this together, always! #RaiderNation

I usually dig everything this kid says, he’s really grounded and respectful.
In this case, though, I disagree- it’s easy for him to say that as a player for the franchise, but he’s not someone who has spent countless dollars supporting this billion dollar franchise and watching them leave for greed yet again.
I’m not a Raiders fan, but I know if I was in their position, I wouldn’t be a Raiders fan going forward.

Just goes to show how truly disconnected players are from the fans.
Not directed as an insult to Carr, he has only been there 3 years. He is young and young people have a tendency to say stupid things.
He has no idea what it means to support a team for 20, 30, 40 or 50 years and have that team turn its back on your city and move away. Twice.
He would be better served to just be quiet.

Hey Carr …prove your “loyalty” to the fans in oakland by refusing to play anywhere else.Long distance relationships work all the time.Not a Raiders fan and I feel for the fans of any team that they have supported and got shafted.

What a load of crap. This is the complete wrong way to address the issue. Should have said something like “I’m hoping we still have everyone’s support”. Don’t go blaming the fans for what your owner just did.

I usually don’t need players getting involved in stuff like this, but Carr is right. Some in the media like to stir it up, and I totally understand that. We’re supposed to mad at pro basketball teams resting players. We’re supposed to criticize all refs and umps. We’re supposed to hate the NFL commissioner because he caught one of our favorite players cheating. We’re supposed to be mad at whatever “they” tell us we’re supposed to be mad about. I don’t care what field the Raiders play on. It’s all on my TV screen anyway. I haven’t enjoyed watching the Raiders as much as I do now for a long time. Go Raiders!

This isn’t like if the Mets moved to the Meadowlands. Or if the Skins actually moved to D.C. They’re moving from Oakland to Las Vegas. True, there are probably MANY fans of MANY teams that are loyal to the team. People in NE that like the Cowboys likely won’t care if they move. Steelers fans in Oklahoma wouldn’t care if the Steelers moved. But I can tell you that the people in those areas with care a lot. To think otherwise is silly.

Stupidest Comment from a player…EVER…The loyalty (MONEY!!) people from Oakland put into that team over the years obviously means nothing to ownership. That’s like saying people from St. Louis better cheer for the team in LA, or they are not real fans…I am pretty sure the people in St. Louis don’t want the ownership in LA (Rams) to be successful…Carr, your team will have less fans because they will not be spending their hard earned money on a team that turned their back on them…its gonna be hilarious to watch this ship slowly sink the next 2 years, be even more hilarious if the mayor and city officials throw this team out of the stadium before 2019 (won’t happen, but would be funny). The Browns faltered after they found out the team would be moving, just when Oakland/Vegas Raiders started to turn the corner…good luck in advertising this TITANIC S%$t sandwich the next couple years

Being a Browns fan, when they left for Baltimore, I stopped watching football altogether, I feel sorry for the Oakland fans and they should not take the Raider name with them. Thank God Baltimore didn’t take the Browns name because if they did, I still wouldn’t be watching !!!

As an Eagles fan, if the Eagles moved away….. I might still have a care for them, but if Philadelphia got a new team, they would be my favorite team. Now I might be an Eagles fan till that happened, but I cheer for MY CITY’S team, not just some random team that used to have some connection with my city but left. That is like me still cheering (maybe not me because I’m too young to see them in Philly), for the Golden State Warriors or Oakland Athletics because they used to be in Philly.

Speaking of that, both Philadelphia teams moved to Oakland……. Are the Eagles next? lol

charliecharger says:
Apr 18, 2017 9:08 AM
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So what you are saying is, that everyone in Baltimore should still be a Colts fan’s even thou they moved to Indy? And everyone in Cleveland should be a Raven fan? Or everyone from Houston should be a Titans fan? I don’t think that is how it works. The Raiders will maintain a good portion of their fans from Oakland, but as the years go by they will start losing the fans from Oakland.

When the Browns left Cleveland, you better know we didn’t root for the Ravens. And if we hadn’t clawed away the name from Art Modell in court, we wouldn’t have rooted for the Baltimore Browns.

Pride in your team, sure. But pride in your city. And pride for a team that is committed to your city.

The Raiders have filed for divorce and don’t even have the common decency to get out now. The city should throw them out and change the locks on the doors. Let them sleep on someone else’s couch for two years, till their new desert palace is ready.

I agree with him 100% and if you stop being a Raider fan then peace be with you.

I’ve been around since we left for LA and back. After all the mediocre years of coaches, players and being the but of every NFL joke you remained a Raider fan then after all this you will still remained a fan.

Baby I know I’m divorcing you for a richer glitzier woman but the divorce isn’t for another year but in the meantime if you don’t continue loving me during this year same as you did before else that proves you never loved me at all.

I’ve never understood extreme fanatics for professional, for-profit sports teams (I’m not a Packers fan, but at least the Packers are a non-profit team). It’s like rooting for Wal-Mart or Facebook or Microsoft if you won’t work there and aren’t a shareholder. I want my family. friends and community to do well, and I’ll be fanatic for their happiness and success.

I enjoy watching football. I enjoy going to games in person. But it’s entertainment. It’s not a charity. The teams are not your friends. When you go to a Seahawks, Chiefs, Texans, Patriots, Bucs, Lions or Bengals game, the owners are selling you a product. If you get laid off, the owners aren’t coming to your home to help you out, give you a hand, help you get a new job. If you or your kids or grandkids need help in school, the team owners aren’t going to tutor your kid. If your house needs to be painted, don’t expect your favorite team to give a fig.

I have to agree with Carr. I grew up in North Carolina and I’m a huge Panthers fan. I’ve lived in GA (near the Falcons), in PA (near the Steelers), in VA (near the Redskins) and everywhere I’ve lived I have also been surrounded by stupid Cowboys fans. But at no point in any of my moves did I stop pulling for the Panthers or considered myself less of a fan just because I was no longer in the same city/state. Yes, the reason I originally became a fan was because of their location. But once I became a fan, location (mine or the team’s) was no longer a factor in why I was a fan.

Say, say fellas, why are you all hitting young DC. He is a player that see and hear true fans. I live in Denver, CO I am a Raider fan and have been since I can remember. Why are the fans giving ole girl Libby and her henchmen a pass for not doing more to keep the Raiders in Oak-town.

bernieknowsfootball says:
Apr 18, 2017 9:25 AM
Being a Browns fan, when they left for Baltimore, I stopped watching football altogether, I feel sorry for the Oakland fans and they should not take the Raider name with them. Thank God Baltimore didn’t take the Browns name because if they did, I still wouldn’t be watching !!!
=================================
I call BS on you. Nobody watches or doesn’t watch based on a team name. Ridiculous.

He should just be happy ha has fans, period.
He should just be happy the gets paid absurd sums of $ to play a children’s game.
He should just be happy he didn’t have to play the Pats last year, although the experience of losing in the playoffs to NE would have served him well
Tuck yourself in Raiders fans and have a nice offseason!

That’s an incredibly stupid comment, house to be a Charlotte Hornets fan, but when the team moved to another city my loyalty died. I wouldn’t have even considered pulling for the New Orleans Hornets. It’d be like having your car stolen but still hoping the new driver enjoyed the ride.

Wow… as a long time fan of the Raiders, I was undecided about my position on them moving. While I am still undecided, DC was one of the main reasons I was thinking about staying loyal next year. He just made a very stupid statement and has me reconsidering.

Of course his loyalty will be questioned very soon in FA. Let’s see how much of a Hometown deal he gives Reggie….

I’ve never understood extreme fanatics for professional, for-profit sports teams (I’m not a Packers fan, but at least the Packers are a non-profit team). It’s like rooting for Wal-Mart or Facebook or Microsoft if you won’t work there and aren’t a shareholder. I want my family. friends and community to do well, and I’ll be fanatic for their happiness and success.

I enjoy watching football. I enjoy going to games in person. But it’s entertainment. It’s not a charity. The teams are not your friends. When you go to a Seahawks, Chiefs, Texans, Patriots, Bucs, Lions or Bengals game, the owners are selling you a product. If you get laid off, the owners aren’t coming to your home to help you out, give you a hand, help you get a new job. If you or your kids or grandkids need help in school, the team owners aren’t going to tutor your kid. If your house needs to be painted, don’t expect your favorite team to give a fig.

This is too funny. It’s like a dude who divorces his wife and finds a new girlfriend. He then tells his soon to be ex-wife, I will still live at the house with you for a few years. And then the oldest son goes to mom and says, even though Dad is moving, and we kids are moving with him, I still expect you to love Dad and maybe even hook him up with the occasionally booty call. lol

Carr, you are as clueless as they come but the true clueless bunch are the fans. Now, I consider myself a fan but not in the way some of these other fans are. I root for my team, I have the Sunday Ticket but I never lose perspective on the fact that this is a business. This is why I find it comical when a Player and Team are fighting over salary and most fans will side with the team, who cares, they are all rich. Or some other fans go as far as to tattoo players or team names on their body. folks this is a business, the sooner you understand that the sooner you can sit back enjoy the game and your fantasy football.

That’s what the Dodgers and Giants said after ripping out the hearts of two NY fanbases. The Mets took one color from each team as a nod to the past. There are very few Dodgers or Giants fans in metro NYC.

If you’ve really ever listened to this guy talk, you know he’s not very bright. Everything is sn athletic cliche’or a Christian cliche. He’s like a dumb Kurt Warner. “they’ll continue to ride with us.”What a moron. “He’s got a strong arm though, and he’s a good quarterback. Anything that requires being intelligent is beyond him, though. Forget about winning a super bowl with this blockhead Raider fans. InOskland or otherwise.

The VAST majority of people here are not Raider fans or from Oakland, so there’s that… Additionally, I bet most have never been to a Raider home game in Oakland because if they had, they’d get why the Raiders were in a hurry to leave: the Coliseum is literally a sewer pit and has to be the worst stadium in the league by far. As a Raider fan since the early 70s here in NorCal, I’ve refused to go back to that hell hole for over 15 years. I supported the team when they’ve moved before and hoped the Coliseum would be improved, but adding nose bleed seats (that are now tarped) where you need binoculars doesn’t count. Oakland never came up with the money for a sorely needed stadium, while Vegas is chipping in $750 million for a state of the art stadium… No brainer.

OTHOH, I will absolutely take the short, cheap flight to Vegas for a weekend at least once a year to see my favorite team play in an awesome football stadium that doesn’t have a baseball diamond on it. That’s a party! I’ll miss tailgating before Raider games (by FAR the best part as it was Halloween every Sunday) but that experience ain’t worth the crappy conditions so I’m looking forward to the big tailgate party that is Vegas!
One Nation!!!!

The Raiders are a NATIONAL team. They have fans from all of the country (and world). I’m sorry for the Oakland fans but it’s not like they moved across the country. This will be their third move – it’s not the same as the Steelers leaving Pittsburgh for example.

They are still the RAIDERS with tradition, history and colors. But their stadium is a disaster. While Mark Davis could have done more the city of Oakland blew it ultimately. As long as the team wins the fans will come out. Period.

Typical comments of a spoiled, arrogant, rich pro athlete. If I were a Raider fan, I’d show who him how much of a fan I was by organizing a boycott of the Raiders first game this year.
I’d hold it in the parking lot of the stadium and let him and the Raiders know exactly how Raiders fans feel about his comments.
I hope Derek Carr never wins a Super Bowl.
To you long time Raiders fans — I’ve been watching the NFL since 1960 and the old AFL since its inception. I always rooted for the Raiders to win the AFL Championship. In those days, we had no color tv and I just thought the Radiers uniforms were the coolest looking uniforms in the AFL. They looked the best to me on a black and white tv.
The Raiders had many great players and teams. And they had passionate, loyal fans. Yeah, they could be rowdy, but so could fans of other teams.
So to you fans, I offer my sympathy for the Raiders moving to Vegas. The NFL is all about money and fans have no bearing on any of their decisions. We all saw that when they came up with seat licensing. And now this nitwit in charge is moving games out of the country, further sticking it to the fans of the teams.
I know this much. If I were a Raiders fan, there’s no way I’d ever travel to Vegas to see them play — even if they gave me the tickets. To me, that would be like trying to get a date with your ex-wife after she ran off with another guy and divorced you.
So hang in there Raiders fans, and form a protest group to let Derek Carr know he ought to shut his big mouth.

If location wasn’t important to fans, the NFL wouldn’t be able to leverage it into $500 million stadium deals. Can’t have it both ways. If you steal tax dollars because fans are desperate to have a team in they’re city, you can’t expect fans to be OK with teams leaving their city.

Sounds like he’s one of those guys who became a fan of whatever teams were good during his formative years, so geography doesn’t matter to him. Those kinds of “fans” I always just dismissed as fake. This was a horribly stupid comment.

The double whammy is that a lot of those fans have supported the team while they stunk. Now, they are finally starting to show improvement, and they run out of town. Some may stay Raider fans, but I have to believe it is a very low percentage. How many Ram fans do you think there still are in St Louis?

Being a Raiders Fan is a life sentence. An incurable disease. It’s a lifestyle and unites people all over the world. I get it that watching them leave is excruciating, especially now that the team is having success having endured the previous 15 years.
But how do you walk away from something that’s been a part of you? Other teams fans might not get it and probably think I sound insane, but Raider Nation will understand. It’s bigger than football.

You can’t have it both ways Derek. You can’t move to another city . And then think the fans in Oakland are going to be happy. And still want to cheer for another city’s team just because they are still called the Raiders.

More fans don’t attend games than do. That’s simple math. For millions of people, football is a television event, not a live one. For a huge number of those people, the city a game is played in is irrelevant. If you win games and are fun to watch, you’ll have fans whether you’re in Oakland or Vegas or Fargo or London.

It sucks to have your team leave your city but the Raiders and the NFL can live without Oakland quite easily. The loss of fans will be minimal when counting the bottom line.

Not the smartest comment by Carr. Regardless of the reasons and the logic behind the Raiders leaving Oakland, the bottom line is that the fans who have supported this team for decades are being shafted.

Expecting the fans in Oakland to just fall in line and accept this move is nonsense, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Derek, your remark was wide-eyed childish. Davis, like the Spanos/Fabriani “mob” couldn’t care less. It’s screw the fans and get the money. Also stop blaming the City. Californians are the most over-taxed people in the U.S. Didn’t beloved Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown just raise gasoline taxes over 40%?

When the Oilers announced they were moving to Tennessee, they still planned on playing in Houston for two years whIle their new stadium was being built. Sound familiar? By the end of the first season, their home game attendance plummeted to 15,000. They played the second year at Vanderbilt.

I was born a BALTIMORE Colts fan, I still WILL NOT watch the indy team play, cannot stand to see those uniforms. That is how much I still hate them and their stupid owner. The irsays ripped the hearts out of this city and I will hate them forever. Carr, you are dreaming.

I also disliked it when Modell moved team from Cleveland BUT at least he was classy enough to leave the name and history there and they now have team called the Browns and it only took them a few years. I gave up the NFL COMPLETELY for 15 years after my team was stolen. I did not embrace the Ravens for the first 4 years because of how they got here.

Yikes Carr sounds tone deaf here. Does he also consider Raider fans who didn’t want to give public money to build a new stadium as “not real fans” as well? Obviously that’s an ownership and NFL issue, not Carr’s, but at the same time he sounds a little out of touch with the politics of NFL relocation

Yes, just like when the Sonics left Seattle. We all became thunder fans… Nope.
In my case, I abandoned the NBA completely. In fact I’ve gone as far as avoiding Starbucks because I also blame the former owner (Shultz) for being such an idiot and selling MY team to investors from OK.
I NO LONGER CARE!
I wonder if Derek will feel the same way when he inevitably gets traded, cut or becomes FA?

pastabelly says:
Apr 18, 2017 10:15 AM
bernieknowsfootball says:
Apr 18, 2017 9:25 AM
Being a Browns fan, when they left for Baltimore, I stopped watching football altogether, I feel sorry for the Oakland fans and they should not take the Raider name with them. Thank God Baltimore didn’t take the Browns name because if they did, I still wouldn’t be watching !!!
=================================
I call BS on you. Nobody watches or doesn’t watch based on a team name. Ridiculous.

I don’t know Derek…think you might not be old enough to understand quite what those fans are going through.

This would be not be the first time the team as left. One time would be hard enough for a fan base like the Raiders. Take that team away a second time and I can see why people would stop following the team.

I mean I’m sure they will again when they move back to Oakland around 2030 after the NFL realizes Vegas will never support a team. That city is full of transplant fans. When you get games against teams from cold weather climates I can see that team actually having a bigger fan base show up to the stadium simply because those people have been fans of another team their whole life.

Millennial Derek Carr wasn’t even born when the Raiders first shafted Oakland and Alameda County by moving to LA. He was barely out of diapers when Al Davis forced his move BACK to Oakland and made the taxpayers pay for massive renovations to the Coliseum while contributing zero dollars. Now the Raiders are once again abandoning Oakland and the East Bay sticking the taxpayers for the renovations bill.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Carr doesn’t know what it’s like to be a fan. He’s completely and utterly out of touch

I truly feel bad for the die hard fans in Oakland. But in reality, they are merely the kids of divorcing parents and the Raiders have very legitimate reasons for leaving after being unsupported by their city and county government officials for so many years. Divorce is never pretty. Carr should have stayed quiet.

Funny how a kid who was born about 30 years later after I became a fan of the Raiders, want to try to say what a “Raider ” fan is. Just an FYI Derek, I will never be a fan of the greed and money grab of the NFL owners and Mark Davis….everybody knows if Al was alive this would not have happened.

I grew up a Raiders fan when they were on LA and had no problem still rooting for them when they went to Oaktown. If Oakland wanted them sooo bad they should have done much more to keep them. OAKLAND DID NOTHING FOR MANY YEARS TO KEEP THEM SO GOODBYE. I will always bleed Silver and Black where ever they may land – Raiders for Life!

I have no problem with what he said. I am from California and have lived in Oakland, and I have always been a RAIDER fan not an Oakland fan. Absolutely those people who live in Oakland will be upset and may stop watching them BUT that didn’t stop the team the first time they moved nor will it now.

Financial Analysts have already predicted the team will be worth way more after the move…this is business folks. Sports Franchises have NEVER been anything more. They are literally no different than any other business…Google, Microsoft, Boeing, etc. They ONLY take the city’s moniker because that has been the tradition…what about the Golden State Warriors? Oakland couldn’t do jack when they moved and it didn’t really make too many headlines…this is what teams need to start doing, taking vague state names not cities’ names.

Carr’s statement upsets Oakland fans…not RAIDER fans. He’s not wrong for making the statement, people are just overly sensitive.

You just poured salt in the wounds of the NFL’s stabbiest fans, Mr Carr. If you need a lesson in how to make a classy futile appeal to spurned fans, you should read Philip Rivers’ comments to San Diegans.

Im a big fan and supporter of him, but he really should say as little as possible from here on out about this. Its like walking on a tight rope every time.

He’s his own worst enemy because he’s so engaging and outspoken with the media and fans, when in this case he would be better off saying nothing. His twitter post the first day was perfect, he should really refer any question to that.

Carr couldn’t be more wrong. Local fans have been behind the team for 15 years of terrible performance. They are real fans. If they feel betrayed and disenchanted with the team now they are moving to LV, then that’s how they feel. It’s the fault of the Raiders, NFL and the city of Oakland. Not the fans’ fault. If I was from Oakland, I wouldn’t want to cheer for the Raiders anymore either.

The other major thing wrong with what Carr said is that he is acting like he is a life long Raider fan. He’s a player. If he had a better offer from another team he would be there in a second.

Misdirected anger. You should be mad at Libby Shaff and Oakland’s city council, not Mark Davis, and certainly not Carr. That stadium absolutely needs to go, Davis worked to stay in Oakland for 3 years, and got no help from the city. Were the Raiders supposed to play in that dump for 100 years? No Surprise, a better deal came along, and you lost your team, city of Oakland.

thelongestgoodbye says:
Apr 18, 2017 9:18 AM
I grew up in Baltimore, I don’t know of a single Indianapolis Colt fan from here. Like many said above, you are a fan of your cities team – not the team always.
~~~~~~~~~
That is just as false as Carr’s statement. No doubt, many were bitter when the colts packed up to move but the people who bailed on the team were likely mostly limited to the Baltimore area and a few more probably jumped to the Ravens when they started winning. Fan bases are not just made up of local folks. Look at the teams that travel well (Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Dallas, etc.) There are way more fans of these teams than the populations of the towns they reside in. I have been a Dolphins fan for 4+ decades yet, I have never set foot in Miami. I would be mad if they moved to a different city but my odds of rooting for a different team would be pretty slim.

If his wife behaves the same way as the Raiders, I wonder if he will still love her. Here is what she would have done if she was like the Raiders.

Leave him because she wants to live in a new house. Then she came back a few years later, not because she still loves him, but because she misses living in the old house that they shared. After staying with him for a few years, she leaves him again for yet another new house. Will he be mad if someone tells him he is a bad husband because he won’t love his wife anymore because she leaves again, as soon as the new house is completed?

Carr’s not allowed an opinion? Davis doesn’t have the money. Oakland definitely doesn’t have the money. After over 20 years of trying to get a stadium, Davis went where the money is. To compare this relocation to Cleveland or any other situation is laughable. I’ve been a Raiders fan for 43 years. Always will be.

No one is required to be a fan of any team. One can be a football fan and enjoy watching football, whether is it NFL, NCAA, Canadian or even high school football. If a team acts like the Raiders does, it doesn’t deserve to have any fans.

Carr is going to hear it from the fans in Oakland when he steps on the field this season. His loyalty is with the team, even if it were to move to Texas, Mexico or England. Fans in Oakland only like the Oakland Raiders, not the Las Vegas Traitors.

Reading through the comments, it seems that people don’t understand their place. Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion and shpuld feel however they want to feel, but Carr is right. You should be supportive of the players and the coaches (as long as they are good). In Green Bay, the city actually OWNS the team. If the Packers left, everybody would still want to root for Aaron Rodgers, Jordy, Cobb. You’re rooting for players to succeed, not for colors and mascots. If they left and you stopped being fans, who do you root for? Do you all really think you’re going to stop watching football? I know, in the hypothetical, I sure as hell woyldn’t root for the Bears. Eooting for the Chargers, then, Oakland?

Wow. I thought Carr was an interesting young QB. Now all I can think is “screw you” the way your team screwed their city. How many times can the Davis’ screw this town and still request loyalty with a straight face?

If your wife told you that she is now sleeping with somebody else and is planning a new life with them, but you need to still support her for the next two years because their new home isn’t ready yet, how would you feel?

Umm, to all of the folks saying that Oakland didn’t do anything to keep the team, I’d argue that the team had every opportunity to build their own stadium, with private money and chose not to – they had no desire to stay in Oakland. Other teams have done that and been wildly successful.

Also, I’d love to see Oakland pull what Cleveland did and threaten a lawsuit to keep the Raider name in Oakland. Will all of these people here be part of the new “Blackjack Nation” or w/e the new name of the Las Vegas team becomes? Personally, I think they should go with the Las Vegas Movers, since they’re the only pro team to relocate 3 times and seem to have it down pat.

Rkeller91,
That’s your xbox and fantasy football view of football. People cheer and root for the name on the front of the jersey. Players come and go from a city or team. Fans root for their team. If your team leaves to play in another city,you don’t root for them.

Not the smartest comment, but people make mistakes when microphones are in their faces. All in all, he’s not completely wrong, just probably shouldn’t have said it.

As a Raider fan, I wish they had stayed in Oakland; but after following them for 40 years, they could move to Beirut and I would still be a fan. That being said, if people choose to stop being fans, so be it. Win games and it won’t matter in the long run.

I think Carr is spot on. I’m a Raider fan, not an Oakland Raider fan. I’ve followed them from Oakland, LA, Oakland and now Las Vegas. If they go to San Antonio after Vegas, I will support them there as well.
BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT A TRUE FAN IS…!

Everyone who is saying they won’t support them because they are not in Oakland are not Raider fans, They are Oakland fans. So don’t get it twisted.!

Most of the comments here are from people who are not true fans of whoever there team is!

Yes, be sure and remain loyal NFL fans. Who cares if the NFL shakes down your local communities for tax dollars to build their facilities, bails to the next city as soon as a better offer comes along, spits on the American flag insulting veterans and police officers, league infested with drunk drivers, wife beaters and the occasional murderer. You remain loyal to them while they have no loyalty to you whatsoever. This is what you signed up for remember?

The NFL deserves to be boycotted more than any business ever. The day America finally tunes out and moves on with this garbage will be a good day for us all

I’m Patriots fan, but I really feel bad for the Raiders fans. They are very passionate about their team. I live in a different state but I see many vehicles with their Raiders stickers etc and people proudly wearing their team shirts. I like the crazy fans in the stadium too. I, too, wished that the team could just stay put where it belongs. But business is business. The fans are heartbroken but I think they will still be Raiders fans in their hearts. Well, I have always liked Carr and the Raiders although I’m a Patriots fan. Some things transcend barriers. Las Vegas, Oakland… What are names and a few hundred miles to a true fan?

sariff420 says:
Apr 18, 2017 1:15 PM
Blind allegiance to a business seems silly
_________________________________
I agree and I will add we can expand that blind allegiance to a political party is silly too 🙂

RE LEE says:
Apr 18, 2017 1:41 PM
I’m Patriots fan, but I really feel bad for the Raiders fans. They are very passionate about their team. I live in a different state but I see many vehicles with their Raiders stickers etc and people proudly wearing their team shirts. I like the crazy fans in the stadium too. I, too, wished that the team could just stay put where it belongs. But business is business. The fans are heartbroken but I think they will still be Raiders fans in their hearts. Well, I have always liked Carr and the Raiders although I’m a Patriots fan. Some things transcend barriers. Las Vegas, Oakland… What are names and a few hundred miles to a true fan?

———-

It is possible for a team and a league to screw something up badly enough to lose fans. Even Fireman Ed stopped going to Jets games.

Do you really think Al would have let two teams move to a market that he felt he already paid for the rights to, and then be pushed aside by the other owners the way they did to little Markie boy…..Do you think Al would go to a “smaller market” —–The Al you know is not the same one I knew..Al would have already sues the NFL by now.

Oakland “city fans” are all in on their Politician’s lies about “doing all she can to keep them” too though. You go ahead and believe Libby “tried”, just like Qwan “tried”….joke’s on you. There’s a reason the Warriors are moving across the Bay as well.

The Vegas Raiders got what they deserve, someone who will make even more former Raiders fans unhappy by making stupid comments like the one Carr made. I think he is a numbskull, and that is why he also makes so many mental mistakes on the field as a QB.

Thank you for your support of our decision (I still can’t believe we pulled it off!) to relocate to the gambling capital of the Milky Way galaxy, Las Vegas, Nevada. You’re a “true” company man in that centuries long spirit of pirating and privateering purely for profit.

But please be advised, a team leader must learn when and when NOT to speak of volatile issues (relocation), i.e., learn to keep his pie-hole “shuttie.”

Sincerely,
Mark
Roll, baby, roll!
Satire
— — —

April, 2017

To the City of Oakland:

Not only do you not own the Raiders, soon to be known as the Las Vegas Raiders, your fans of said football franchise don’t even own their feelings appurtenant to that club.

See you at the season opener!

Sincerely,
Derek Carr
Roll, baby, roll!
Satire
— — —

Davis takes his football (Raiders) and runs, again (LA), to another new neighborhood (LV), then the mouthpiece on his banana-seat bike (Carr) starts to babble about loyalty. Nobody ever liked those kinda’ kids, the babblers, or the ball-hogs.

He’s right. I’ve been a fan for 40+ years, and I’ve traveled to every game I’ve ever been to, because I never lived in Oakland or Los Angeles. I’m a fan of the team, not the city, and fans that were lucky enough to live in the city to see them every season should be thankful and understand that their city let them down. Had Oakland city leaders made a real effort to work with the team, they wouldn’t be leaving. So vote the bums out before you lose the A’s, too.

no carr. for me, I used to be a san diego charger fan. now the chargers moved, why the f# do I care about the chargers? when they were here, I rooted for them so the city could win and have something to cherish on. now if the chargers win a sb (not that they will ever win one) as an LA team, I can careless.
fan or no fan, I don’t really care. I root for the city I live in, period.

The move sucks!!! I really do feel for the Raiders fans of Oakland. They should stay but they are the Raiders to me…no matter where they play.

But it was apparent when the Raiders moved back to Oakland that the city was NOT going to do anything for the Raiders. I’m sure Al talked to the league about this possible move (to Vegas) shortly after the move back to Oakland. Doubt what I say? Then tell me who bought the domain name Las Vegas Raiders way back in 1998. You’ll be surprised.

I have been a Raiders fan since the 80’s and I have never been to a home game, and the thought never crossed my mind honestly; but I will travel to watch them whenever and wherever I can…and that will include Vegas. It would be a perfect weekend if the hockey team that I cheer for…the Ottawa Senators…are playing the same weekend as the Raiders are at home. I’ve never lived in Ottawa; I’m not even from the area.

But it was apparent when the Raiders moved back to Oakland that the city was NOT going to do anything for the Raiders. I’m sure Al talked to the league about this possible move (to Vegas) shortly after the move back to Oakland. Doubt what I say? Then tell me who bought the domain name Las Vegas Raiders way back in 1998. You’ll be surprised.
– – – – – – – – – – –
Oakland was not going to do anything? What kool aid do you drink? The taxpayers are still paying back the $200 million the raiders got in 1995 to build Mt Davis….Also just an fyi Las Vegas Raiders was trademarked in 2016- Trademarks and domains are two different things. Anybody can get a domain for like ten bucks on go daddy- trademarks are by the US Gov’t.

When your team is doing well, the whole city is electric. It is about a lot more than watching a game on tv. Law firms and other normally conservative business let their workers wear team gear on Fridays, food and booze specials abound, parties, camaraderie, friendliness and forgiveness…not to mention the big parade when your team wins the big one.

If you are a fan of a distant team, sure you can watch the games and wear your little fanboy jersey, but you’re alone in doing it. #sad

Carr’s comment is insulting to Oakland. Ironically he claims folks won’t be loyal by not remaining raiders fans – Raiders owner shows no such loyalty to Oakland as he sells himself to the highest bidder.

Raiders are leaving to cash in on a new stadium in LV. Greed is name of the game, no more. Why should Oakland fans root for some team located hundreds of miles away?

Hope the Raiders flounder again in a city that won’t care about them – kind of like LA.

The old AFL put teams in working-class areas that did not have a NFL franchise. These teams were built upon a fan base that was being snubbed by the NFL. The Raiders were a perfect example of this. Now, teams are snubbing their fan base by effectively playing for the highest bidder.

audient says:
Apr 18, 2017 9:30 AM
When the Browns left Cleveland, you better know we didn’t root for the Ravens. And if we hadn’t clawed away the name from Art Modell in court, we wouldn’t have rooted for the Baltimore Browns.

=================================

Historical revisionism. Just like big media’s fake news.

Baltimore fans wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Browns name. Long after the Cleveland lawsuit was settled, Modell tested the water with “Browns” for a couple months, discovered the Baltimore fans’ revulsion to that name, and agreed to a name-the-team contest in the Baltimore Sun between Ravens, Americans, and Marauders.

I like Derek Carr. It’s too bad that he is so out of touch with reality. If I were a former Raiders fan, I would despise the team and never support them. I think anyone who goes to their games the last couple of years in Oakland is a schmuck.

Personally, I think they should go with the Las Vegas Movers, since they’re the only pro team to relocate 3 times and seem to have it down pat.
——————————–
Rochester Royals/Cincinnati Royals/Kansas City Kings/Sacramento Kings

I’m late to the punch here but I agree with Derek. If you’re a fan of a team… you’re a fan of a team, regardless of location. I was an Oilers fan and was an Oilers fan when they moved to Tennessee and now a Titans fan. Houston got another franchise in the Texans but I can’t root for the Texans just because they’re in Houston. I’m not a Houston fan. I’m a Titans fan.

If your from Oakland and a Raider fan you have every right to be pissed, they were using you to get a new stadium for years, when they didn’t get it so they left you twice. Carr is an ignorant jerk for saying that and should just keep his big mouth shut about it. Its sad when NFL owners use fan loyalty to get stadiums built for them when they have more than enough money to build them themselves without tax payer help. The owner do this because of greed at the fans expense, the people that live locally that buy the tickets. I don’t live in the area anymore that the team I’m a fan of play in, but I don’t want to see them move to another city. I wouldn’t be as big a fan as I am now if they did and would have little respect for them for doing so.

Season ticket holder when they were here. Dumped tickets when they left. Season ticket holder again when they returned. Dumped my tickets when they told me they were leaving again. How does that make me bad? Mark wants to get in bed with Vegas? Hope you get VD!